Siege of County Offaly
The Siege of County Offaly was one of the first battles of the entire Frontier War. Starting on September 1st, 2267, the area of County Offaly in the New Republic of Ireland was attacked and layed siege to by the tribal conglomorate known as The Celts. The New Irish forces in the area were small and had tried to hold off the Celts, but they were unable to and were eventually forced to retreat back to areas near the city state of Síochánta in defense of the city. Prelude For most of its history, Síochánta has been a strong ally of the New Republic of Ireland and a valuable ally. The city's abundant natural resources and farm lands remained vital for New Ireland to trade with and use to fead their population. Because of this, the city has been heavily defended by New Irish forces and has been under constant military protection since the attempted invasion of the city by the Irish Communist Party back in the Republican-Communist War and small forces were stationed across nearby areas, including County Offaly. Meanwhile, the Celts began expanding at an alarming rate and were soon ready to expand and conquere Ireland to "purify" it from the remnants of the old world and return the region to its "natural" state. History Celtic Invasion The siege began on September 1st at 9:12 AM when a large force of around 9,000 Celtic warriors began to attack and lay siege to County Offaly taking the New Irish forces by surprise. The NIRA forces stationed in the county were small and non-mobilized leaving the county's defenses small and easy to be overrun. Gunner crews took their positions and fired upon the Celtic warriors and managed to get some air support from bombers, albiet small amount of air support, but it wasn't enough to push back the Celts and only briefly halt their advance. With the trenches overrun, the surviving Irish troops decided to retreat and head back to the nearby towns and cities in defense. Urban Warfare After the loss of the outer parts of the county, the surviving Republican troops regrouped with each other and set up defensive positions in the nearby towns and cities to defend against the Celts and believing that they could use the urban areas to engage the Celtic warriors in urban warfare and push them back. While such a tactic briefly worked, the Celtic warriors outnumbered the New Irish troops and with their troops having been non-mobilized, they stood little chance and were further pushed back to the city centers and town squares. Within the city center, Irish troops made their last stand as Celtic warriors swarmed across the city and began charging into the square using ancient warrior tactics. Republican machine gun crews managed to mow down most of these charges and buy some of the troops time, but the square was soon overran and eventually forced all Irish troops to evacuate. Aftermath The battle ended in the early morning of 8:28 AM on September 3rd with a decisive victory for the Celts. County Offaly was annexed into the Celtic lands and the city and other towns were largely emptied of their inhabitants whether it be them evacuating the county all together or were forced out to "purify" them of "old world curses" by the Celts. Any remaining Irish troops were taken prisoner and were sent to prison camps which were Celtic tribal camps, but were fenced off from the outside world and had prisoners conduct hard labor, but they weren't mistreated due to the leadership of the Priomhalt, Mac Morris. The siege was a shock to New Ireland and the nation immediately declared war on the Celts and began mobilizing their forces and launched propaganda efforts to recruit citizens into the army and conscripted some as well for the inevitable war. At the same time, Celtic armies were attacking the Independent State of Ulster up north in the Battle of Ballyshannon, which ended in a Northern Irish victory, and the Frontier War had began afterwards and all of Ireland would be plunged into conflict soon after. Category:Battles Category:Events